Sounds too good to be true, but I found that these techniques work really well. Most of the times avid readers already use the same strategies, without being conscious about it.

Blinkist, I warn you, is highly addictive. I can finally read summaries of books I am curious about, and would never have time in my lifetime to fully read. I also use the summary to choose the books that are worthy of the time to fully read. And cherry on the top, I could read on Blinkist a summary of “10 Days to Faster Reading”

About “10 Days to Faster Reading” I learned from the Personal Mba list (which is also on Blinkist). It did not make a huge difference for me, as I already reading quite fast. But even a 10% increase in speed, which I noticed already, for a book that takes me 5 hours, is 30 minutes of time gain. For a slow reader, using this book, the reading speed could double.

Photoreading is a different story. This technique made in my case a huge difference. Is perfect for reading tourist guides before holidays, for documentation, and for getting an idea about a book that I am curious about, but do not have the time to actually read. I also noticed that photoreading a book, before reading it normally, enhances my level of comprehension and the retention of ideas. Now I “preview” each book I read (I read the table of contents, the subtitles, the first and last paragraph of each chapter). Then I “photoread” the book (it’s all explained in the photoreading book). Then I actually read it, if I still find it’s worth it.

Now I always have a clear purpose in my mind, when I read a book, no matter the technique. And I have no remorse to decide not to read a book, or parts of it, if they do not help me.

The question is: can I improve this even better? What other strategies do you use?